On Tycho's Island
ON TYCHO’S ISLAND
, ‒
JOHN ROBERT CHRISTIANSON Research Professor of History, Luther College PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, UK http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk West th Street, New York, ‒, USA http://www.cup.org Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne , Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
© John Robert Christianson
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Christianson, J. R. (John Robert) On Tycho’s island : Tycho Brahe and his assistants, – / John Robert Christianson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. x (hc.) . Brahe, Tycho, –. . Science – Denmark – History – th century. . Astronomers – Denmark Biography. I. Title. . ´. – dc [] –
hardback CONTENTS
List of Illustrations page viii Preface xi
: ’ Introduction In King Frederick’s Service, ‒ Junker and Peasants, ‒ Among Friends, ‒ Founding the Familia, ‒ Breakthrough, ‒ The Problem of Continuity, ‒ The School of Europe, ‒ Magdalene and Calumny, ‒ The Tempest, Epilogue: In Search of Mæcenas, ‒ Legacy
: ’ Biographical Directory
Glossary of Technical Terms Notes References Index
vii illustrations
Tycho Brahe at age fifty frontispiece Knutstorp Castle page Peter Oxe, portrait, Queen Sophie of Denmark, oil on paper Influential friends: Philipp Melanchthon, engraving by Albrecht Dürer, ; Martin Luther, woodcut by Hans Brosamer, Instruments at Herrevad Abbey: (a) Tycho Brahe’s early sextant, mounted to observe the supernova of ; (b) zodiacal armillary made for Tycho Brahe in Bird’s-eye view of Hven ca. – Fragment of the Uraniborg cornerstone Anders Sørensen Vedel, painting by Tobias Gemperle, Typus amicitiæ (“The picture of friendship”), woodcut designed by Johannes Franciscus Ripensis Kronborg Castle viewed from the direction of Hven The comet of : (a) Tycho Brahe’s first sketch of the comet; (b) midsized quadrant of brass used to observe it The axes of Uraniborg staff recruitment Innovations and inventions: (a) transversal dots used to sub- divide calibration; (b) sighting device to provide parallel lines of sight; (c) equatorial armillary built ca. Uraniborg ca. , in red brick with limestone trim Observatory instruments at Uraniborg: (a) greatest azimuth quadrant of steel; (b) bipartite arc; (c) azimuth triquetrum – Equatorial armillary of steel, built Tycho Brahe’s portable sextants: (a) measuring interstellar distances; (b) measuring altitudes; (c) steel model
viii ix
Route of Morsing’s expedition Tycho Brahe’s emblems: (a) Astronomy, (b) Chemistry; design ascribed to Johan Gregor van der Schardt Detail of the monogram “J. A. M.” Map of Hven, engraving from the Braunius atlas, – Apotheosis of the Sound (Øresund), engraving from the Braunius atlas, – The Museum of Uraniborg and its celestial globe: (a) plan of Uraniborg; (b) Tycho Brahe’s great celestial globe, constructed – by Christopher Schissler Stjerneborg: (a) projection, (b) plan Instruments at Stjerneborg: (a) large azimuth quadrant; (b) great equatorial armillary The Uraniborg complex: bird’s-eye perspective ca. Tycho Brahe, woodcut, Tycho Brahe, engraving by Jacques de Gheyn Tycho Brahe, sketch attributed to Tobias Gemperle Tycho Brahe, second engraving by Jacques de Gheyn Mural quadrant: the instrument and the mural painting Celestial orbits: (a) Tychonic system; (b) comet of among the planets King Frederick II, polychrome terra-cotta bust by Johan Gregor van der Schardt, – Portable azimuth quadrant of brass Triangulation: (a) Tycho Brahe’s triangulation of the Sound, as reconstructed by Haasbroek; (b) resultant map of Hven, woodcut attributed to Willem Janszoon Blaeu – Tycho Brahe’s millhouse, reconstructed by Møller Nicolaisen: (a) elevation; (b) cross section Private printings: (a) sketches of Hven watermarks; (b) book- binding from the bindery; (c) detail of the ex libris Two pages from the German student’s notebook on Hven – Reorganization: (a) greatest azimuth quadrant in Stjerneborg, replaced at Uraniborg by (b) large azimuth semicircle Renovations: (a) Uraniborg ca. ; (b) east facade of gleaming white Uraniborg – ’ Family ties: (a) The family of Otte Brahe and Beate Bille, memorial painting in Kågeröd Church, artist unknown; (b) Eriksholm Castle (now Trolleholm) – Young King Christian IV, engraving by Crispin de Pas, Calumnia, from Peter Hegelund, Susanna, Viceroy Heinrich Rantzau, portrait, Wandsburg, woodcut, Prague, detail of an engraving by Egidius Sadeler, Emperor Rudolf II, oil portrait by Hans von Aachen, ca. – Tycho’s China legacy: (a) Beijing Observatory; (b) Tychonic equatorial armillary The Round Tower, or “Royal Stjerneborg of Copenhagen,” with the rebus composed by King Christian IV Willem Janszoon Blaeu, engraving Tycho Brahe’s gilt brass quadrant, probably built ca. – with Blotius in Basel Sophie Brahe, oil portrait in Gavnø Castle Flemløse’s self-portrait in Roman garb, showing the steel sextant in use Odometer by Peter Jachenow, Johannes Kepler, oil portrait by Hans von Aachen, ca. – Labenwolf’s Kronborg fountain, engraving, Live Larsdatter, oil painting by Pieter van der Hult, Christian Longomontanus, engraving by Simon de Pas, Simon Marius, woodcut, Johannes Isaksen Pontanus, engraving by J. van der Velde, , after a painting by Isaac Isaacsz Holger Rosenkrantz and Sophie Axelsdatter Brahe, funerary portrait in Hornslet Church Johan Gregor van der Schardt, polychrome terra-cotta self-portrait Willebrord Snel in Frans Gansneb genaamd Tengnagel van de Camp, funerary monument in the Church of Our Lady under the Chain, Prague, with sketches of the four coats of arms on tycho’s island
introduction
. It shows how one man, Tycho Brahe, T used his powerful position to bend the lives of hundreds of others toward a goal that he deemed important: a new understanding of the cos- mos. It shows how he established a new role for the astronomer as large- scale organizer, active reformer, and natural philosopher. Patronage was his means to create structures of power and incorporate others into his program of reform. This book therefore examines the hier- archies of patronage and clientage that extended from the highest ranks of human society to the broad laboring masses, hierarchies that incorpo- rated men and women skilled in science, technology, learning, and the fine arts to work with Tycho Brahe and take him as their role model. He used his power and patronage to build teams of people working to- gether to carry out his ends, so this book is also about teamwork, which it aims to show was essential to the birth of modern science. Newton once remarked that he could see far because he stood on the shoulders of giants. This book shows how much of seventeenth-century European culture rest- ed on the shoulders of a late sixteenth-century giant, Tycho Brahe: scien- tist, natural philosopher, technical expert, and poet; connoisseur of music, courtly grace, and the fine arts; and one of the most innovative organizers known to history. In sixteenth-century Europe, Tycho Brahe was the patron of science par excellence. Because his use of patronage goes to the heart of the transition from Scientific Renaissance to Scientific Revolution, this book is a case study of patronage during that key period. The first chapter deals with Ty- cho Brahe as client of the king of Denmark and differentiates the two types of royal patronage he received. Chapter shows how he reorganized the island of Hven and brought all of its inhabitants into his system, link- ing their labors to those of his dependents in Norway and two provinces
’ of Denmark. Chapter focuses on theories of friendship that established reciprocal links with learned individuals throughout Europe and created an international support network for his work. Chapter examines the structures of household and family as they were used by Tycho Brahe to shape his working staff. Chapter shows how scientific expeditions, staff organization, the technology of printing, the fine arts, and the manipula- tion of objects and information in “museums” all served to reinforce recip- rocal relationships of friendship and patronage while strengthening the pursuit of science and disseminating its results. Chapter examines how the social linkage of patronage to family could shape the elements of con- tinuity and discontinuity in sixteenth-century science. Chapter looks at the problem of cultural conflict when scholars of various nationalities brought different mentalities and assumptions to their common work. Chapter shows how marriage strategies aimed to reinforce bonds of friendship and patronage, and how they could fail: The betrothal of Ty- cho Brahe’s daughter, Magdalene Tygesdatter, was an attempt to bridge a gap between social classes, and its failure revealed much about the dynam- ics and the limits of late sixteenth-century social bonding. Chapters and show the importance of honor as a personal attribute, and how reputa- tions could be destroyed and patronage lost in fierce battles between rival individuals, institutions, and ideologies. Chapter deals with the difficult but not insuperable task of establishing new patronage relationships on the international level. The scientific, research, and familial legacies of Tycho Brahe are dis- cussed in Chapter , which brings Part One of this volume to a close. Part Two is a Biographical Directory, which sketches the careers of nearly one hundred individuals who were drawn into Tycho Brahe’s network of pa- tronage or, in a few cases, of friendship. Tycho Brahe is the richest example of scientific patronage and friend- ship in sixteenth-century Europe, but his structures of power and support interlocked within a broader cultural ambience that also needs to be exam- ined. In his Latin poetry, Tycho Brahe described his island of Hven as In- sula Venusinus, a magical place where gods and goddesses dwelt on earth. The island’s inhabitants lived and worked together in the Temple of Ura- nia, devoting themselves to eternal matters and ignoring all lowly, earthly ones. In pursuing this elevated life, he asserted, they became like demi- gods. He said that visitors to the island had the privilege of experiencing the realm of the divine and left as better people. Such was Tycho Brahe’s own description of a place that modern historians have seen as a crucible of the Scientific Revolution. The disparity between the way he understood what he was doing and the twentieth-century assessment of his scientific achievement is quite astounding. An important task of this book is therefore to focus upon the lives of dozens of Tycho Brahe’s coworkers in order to see who these “demigods” really were, how they lived and worked together, what they made of their lives, and how they related to the mainstream of European science and cul- ture. To bridge the gap between their mental world and ours, it is neces- sary to examine how these men and women of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries saw the world, and how their world view changed. On this basis, we can move to a new understanding of Tycho Brahe’s role in the Scientific Revolution and of his innovative achievement in organizing large-scale scientific research. Tycho Brahe’s idea of a large-scale, multifaceted scientific-research insti- tution was inspired by the Neoplatonic tradition of the Renaissance, rein- forced by the memory of the ancient Museum of Alexandria, and given focus through some of the places Tycho had visited in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Once he had the idea for such an institution, fi- nancing it depended upon the fact that Tycho Brahe was born into the high nobility and had close connections to the Danish crown. Tycho re- cruited his staff by means of a European network of learned men and courtiers who felt connected by ties of Platonic friendship. Together, Ty- cho, his students, coworkers, and colleagues searched for the mathemat- ical unities of the cosmos by means of huge new instruments, standardized procedures, innovative methods of observation and experimentation, and an epistemology that insisted upon quantifying and verifying the reliabil- ity of data. The result was a paradigm of research that gradually became a general European phenomenon. The life and scientific achievement of Tycho Brahe were described at length in the late Victor E. Thoren’s The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho Brahe (New York: Cambridge University Press, ), to which I contributed, but the focus of this book is quite different. Here, the staff, structure, and culture of Tycho’s island move to the forefront, including the networks of patronage and clientage that converged on the island. What life and scientific work was like on Hven (also called Hveen or Ven) in the years – is considered in some detail, followed by a look at how he conducted his search for a new patron in the years –. Scores of assistants, poets, scholars, scientists, and technicians scattered throughout Europe when they left Tycho Brahe’s service, working in many ’
fields and frequently patterning their lives on his. Some of them tried to establish new institutions on the model of Hven. In the seventeenth cen- tury, they infused the scientific culture of Tycho’s island into the main- stream of European life. This is their story.